When Michael Jackson died, he was worth a paltry $50 million. Pfft, that's nothing. Pocket change. Now that he's gone and not accumulating debt to fuel his extravagant lifestyle, the value of his estate has skyrocketed.

TMZ got its hands on an October 2010 valuation of his estate (which includes not only his properties and song rights but also the much ballyhooed Beatles songbook), and Jackson's assets quadrupled in value in the 16 months after his death. That's $218,964,000.

All those copies of "Billie Jean" you downloaded after his demise sure are keeping his children in glittery gloves. And that estimate was taken close to a year ago. Imagine what it's worth now. We're surprised Tito and Germaine and LaToya and the rest of the crew aren't breaking off their own little pieces of the pie by now. Leave Blanket's college fund alone!